


Salt & Rose Petals

by synvamp



Category: RWBY
Genre: Anger, Angst, Catharsis in the taste of your lips, F/F, Finding hope in your eyes, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:13:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28324374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synvamp/pseuds/synvamp
Summary: Raven is done with Oz and his mind games. In the middle of the night she rises from her bed, intent on returning to the tribe. But it turns out that she’s not the only one who lies awake at night. And she’s certainly not the only one with firm ideas about how this night should end.
Relationships: Raven Branwen/Summer Rose
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	Salt & Rose Petals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paintedfoxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedfoxx/gifts).



> It was lovely to write ladies again after so long, so thank you Paint <3 I hope you like it XD 
> 
> Merry Christmas!

\---xxx---

The corridor still smells like Ozpin’s cologne. The smell makes her skin crawl, feathers ruffling as she flies silently through the corridors. Oz must have thought it was so damn hilarious, turning them into birds. Raven? _Branwen?_ Hahahaha.

His little magic show had worked on her idiot brother. She was so ashamed of him, his pretty pink eyes all sparkly with love for the man who trained the people who slaughtered their family. But Qrow had always been weak. He always ran to whoever made the biggest promise. Pretty lies to soothe his poor delicate soul. She was not weak. She was not foolish.

She focussed on the anger. It would give her the strength she needed tonight.

She banked around a corner, listening for any tell-tale footfalls. Moonlight streamed through the high windows, making the white marble gleam like the skin of a corpse in the night. She thought that maybe her team would wake – they shared a dorm after all – but Tai snored, Qrow used headphones and Summer worked too damn hard. They all slept deep. Only Raven knew enough about the world to lie awake in a cold sweat. Only Raven saw the cold glint in Ozpin’s brown eyes. The shine like a scalpel. Surgical steel.

She spread her wings wide, gliding over the marble staircase. There was a broken pane of stained glass, in the very top of the huge image of the four maidens adorning the entrance hall. Turning in the air, she shot through the narrow gap and out into the cool night air. She had put this off for too long.

As she began her ascent into the clear, star-strewn sky, she felt a twinge in her chest. She’d miss them a little. She dismissed the thought from her mind. These sentimental attachments which Oz fostered so lovingly were designed to tie her here. To make her dependent on Oz and all that he controlled. Maybe her leaving would show them that. Maybe it would make them stronger. Maybe she was doing them a favour. Maybe.

Her beady eyes skipped across the marble columns which flanked the courtyard, one last look… Suddenly she couldn’t see the ground anymore. A burst of movement, a cloud of chaos filled her vision. Wheeling like crazy, she tried to escape the flurry of colour clouding her vision. Wherever she turned it followed. A haze of red and white… petals.

_Rose petals._

Raven transformed and hit the ground running. The petals parted as she drew her sword. A swirling tornado of red and white twisted into a column before her and slowly, in the stark white light of half a moon, Summer Rose formed.

Of course it had to be her. It couldn’t be Tai, who she could knock out while he hesitated. It couldn’t be Qrow, who was so wracked with guilt at betraying the tribe that he wouldn’t even try to argue with her. No. It had to be Summer.

Raven steeled her heart. She pushed away the feelings which boiled in her chest when she looked into those silver eyes.

_I do what I have to. We all do._

Summer lifted her pale hands and pushed back her hood, a smile flickering and dying on her lips, “Where are you going, black bird?”

“Home,” Raven said. The word felt dry on her tongue.

“You’re going to fly all that way?”

Raven simply stared at her. She had made up her mind. The more Summer talked, the more dangerous it was. Better if she just stayed silent, didn’t encourage this idealistic little fool.

“Why don’t you portal there?” Summer asked.

Raven’s gaze narrowed, she knew what was coming. 

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t actually care enough about any of them to have a kindred bond! Hope your wings don’t get tired.” The silver eyes flashed.

Raven shifted her stance and held Omen high. She would have to walk past Summer to leave the courtyard. She looked deep into those eyes, those silver eyes of legend, and took the first step.

Summer’s hand went behind her back, fingers resting on the leather twined around the hilt of her battle-axe. “Don’t do this, Rae.”

All the fear, all the guilt, all the _anger_ welled up inside her like a rising tide, “Don’t do _what?_ Go back to protect _my family_ when they need me? I guess you wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

It was a low blow but Raven would do anything she had to. That was where they were different.

“Qrow is your family,” Summer growled.

“Qrow is a lost cause. If he wants to hang around here being Ozpin’s pet parrot then good for him. I made a promise.”

Summer’s gaze softened, “Rae… you’ve changed. You know now what we’re up against. The world needs you, _I_ need you.” There was a note of pleading in her voice and it made Raven angry. This was what she had to get away from, the weakness. The ties that held her down.

“You think you can save the world?” Raven scoffed, “You’re even more arrogant than I thought.”

“I think _we_ can. _Together_ ,” Summer said. Raven could see the shattered moon reflected in her eyes.

There was no point talking to her. No point talking to any of them. Raven went to walk past her and found a battle-axe in front of her face.

“I won’t let you go,” Summer said.

Raven touched Omen against the glistening curve of metal. Their eyes met across the crossed blades.

“I’m not asking for your permission. I’ll fight you if I have to,” Raven said.

“You would, wouldn’t you?” the note of revelation in Summer’s voice pierced her soul.

“I will,” Raven said. Turn the sadness into anger. Turn the anger into power. The world only respects power.

And as always, Summer seemed to read her mind. “You only care about being strong?”

“It doesn’t matter what I _care about_. The weak die. I’m going to make sure the tribe survives,” she could feel the fire burning in her eyes. The words echoed out in the silence.

_What I care about…_

_I have to go._

Summer shifted her weight ever so slightly, “Then I’ll beat you.”

Raven laughed. “With your little cloud of petals? You hoping I’ll inhale them and choke?!”

Summer did not laugh. “I’ll beat you right here and now. Then you’ll know that you can still learn more here. If you really want to help the tribe you need to wait until you’ve finished your training. I’m going to show you that you’re not as strong as you think you are.”

Raven smirked. If there was one thing she could do, it was fight. She opened her mouth to deliver one final barb and a thousand petals burst in her vision. She dropped to one knee, wheeling around as she swiped Omen through the air. The petals converged just long enough for the glinting double axe head to carve the air beside her face. She leapt back and drove her red dust blade into the rose-scented storm, the petals swirled again.

Across the courtyard they wheeled and turned. Raven flipped with ease and used her corvid form to ascend high into the air, returning to human in the split second before the strike. She used every skill, every black and bitter talent she had honed for murder to cleave that cloud of petals from the air. No matter where she struck, the petals simply scattered, leaving only the afterimage of Summer’s sad face.

Raven screamed in frustration as she slid away from a back strike using her ice blade. “Stop running and fight!”

A blow struck her shoulder and she smiled. She could feel the breath on the back of her neck; a split second was all it would take. She whirled, dropping her shoulder to slide the blade across her body. She trapped Summer with her momentum, knocking them both to the ground. As they fell, she saw those startled silver eyes widen as the blue blade arced towards Summer’s throat.

A burst of petals.

A cold breeze blowing one single black feather up, away into the cold, clear skies.

Raven looked up at the stars, her chest heaving. Summer’s weight pinned her to the cold, wet marble. Silver eyes searched her face for any sign that the fight was not yet done.

“Fair and square,” Summer gasped, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

The battle-axe appeared beneath Raven’s chin. “Fair and square,” Summer repeated.

Raven said nothing.

The axe dropped and Summer cast it aside, the metal clanging loudly on stone in the sudden stillness. “I don’t want you to leave me,” she whispered.

Raven closed her eyes and tried to push the pain down. _I have to go. This farce has to end._

With her eyes closed, the lie was easier. “I don’t care what you want.”

“But you do care,” Summer said, she lifted her hand and her fingers curled, reaching towards Raven’s cheek.

_No. No. Not now._

“You’re confusing me with my limp, wet baby brother,” Raven growled.

Summer flinched at the bite in her words, then she shook her head. The tiny smile which Raven knew so well danced in her eyes, “Then why did you let me win?”

Raven sat up, pushing Summer away. “I didn’t let you win! I just didn’t kill you. Tai would never get over it!”

“What about you?” Summer asked.

“I…” A thousand thoughts swirled in her mind, turbulent and beautiful like rose petals scattered in the wind.

Summer moved closer. Her hands rested on Raven’s shoulders and she waited until Raven finally looked into those piercing silver eyes. “If you stay you’ll keep getting stronger.”

Raven tried to turn away. All she could feel was her heart hammering in her chest, the powerful hands digging into the fabric on her shoulders, grounding her. Pulling her back. “The tribe needs me…”

“You told me to be more selfish once. Raven…” her voice wavered but it was strong.

“You’ve got Qrow and Tai and Oz…” Raven said quickly, fighting off the words she knew she couldn’t run from. The words she knew were to come.

“But I _need_ you. Don’t leave for the tribe. _Stay for me_.”

Summer leaned forward, one hand lifting to lightly trace Raven’s jaw. There was a flash of silver eyes and a puff of warm breath as sweet as rose petals, then soft lips closed against her own. She tried to summon the strength to push away but her hands lifted and closed around Summer’s waist. Their lips found a rhythm which they could never find sparring. In a moment she would remember forever, Raven truly believed she was needed. Loved.

As Summer’s hands ran through her hair, she felt hot tears run down her face.

They parted slowly, Summer pulling her back for one more kiss, again and again.

Raven cradled her, lifting her into her lap. The warmth of her skin made the tears flow faster. Salt and rose petals. Catharsis at last in the taste of her lips.

“You’re pretty desperate for me to stay, huh?” Raven smirked. The tears were only there if she acknowledged them.

Summer growled, faking mad, “It’s not a strategy! I’ve been trying to get up the courage to do this for over a year and that’s all you have to say?!”

Raven closed her eyes and took a breath, her fingers clutching the soft folds of Summer’s cape. Finally, she found she could breathe again, felt like she could talk without her voice trembling. “I guess I could stay one more night.”

Summer leaned close, her forehead pressed against Raven’s, “I’m going to need more than one night, black bird.”

Summer didn’t mention the tears and for that, she was grateful.

“Two nights?”

“This isn’t some kind of sexy auction,” Summer tutted and the smile was back. It filled Raven’s chest with a heat that tingled all the way to her toes.

“Three nights.”

Summer kissed her cheek and one hand tightened in her hair. “And that’s your final offer?”

“I guess that depends on how persuasive you can be,” Raven said, trying to stay cool and disinterested.

Summer shifted her weight and Raven drew a sharp breath.

“From where I’m sitting I’d say I’m pretty persuasive.”

She would have sassed but the warmth of her body, the scent of roses and the sparkle in those eyes was entrancing.

Anyway, what could words convey that lips couldn’t say better?

\---xxx---


End file.
